The present invention relates to a connector, and particularly to a modular jack having a shield and a grounding member separate from the shield.
Modular jack connectors are prevalently in use in the telecommunications industry, matable to modular plug connectors commonly terminated to multi-conductor cable for signal transmission. One example of such a modular jack (see FIG. 4) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,466, in which an insulative housing 50 is covered by a shield 60. The shield 60 includes two side walls 62, a grounding tail 64 extending downwardly from each side wall 62 for being received in a through hole 72 of a printed circuit board 70 for connection to a ground circuit thereof. The surface of the shield 60 is usually electroplated with nickel for cosmetic reasons, and each grounding tail 64 is usually electroplated with tin to aid in soldering. However, the conventional shield with the grounding tails is stamped from a one piece blank. If the surface of the shield is electroplated with nickel and the grounding tail is electroplated with tin, two electroplating steps will be involved thereby making the manufacturing difficult and increasing cost. If the surface of the shield and the grounding tail are both electroplated with nickel, the soldering characteristics of the grounding tail will be poor. If the shield is electroplated with tin, the visual appearance of the modular jack will be poor and the tin-plate on the surface of the shield will melt when the shield is soldered at high temperature. Hence, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.